Sports as a metaphor for business

I like the idea that, at any time, thousands of people are training for the next Olympics.

Olympism can provide a compelling example of elite performance and the passion and effort of going for, and realising your dreams. The likes of Lane4 (now part of EY),  Top Performance Consulting Ltd  and Eclipse who I have worked with, excel at bringing the sport metaphor alive in the business world. The parallels are there. Both sports and business worlds are highly competitive environments where having a compelling vision is critical.  Where challenging goals are set and small margins make a big difference. Environments where it is important to put processes in place. And where ‘stickability’ and team work are key.

A big difference between the two worlds however, is the ratio between training and performance.  As Westerbeck and Smith highlighted, in sport, the ratio is extraordinarily high. Typically it is 95% training, 5% performance. Whereas in business the ratio is effectively reversed.

Which raises interesting questions to reflect on.  Such as:

1. what can we do to really make the 5% count?
2. what would happen if we increased our training ratio? how could we?
3. how could we practice while we perform?